In the third period of the Great Patriotic War (January 1944-May 9, 1945), the Soviet Armed Forces faced the task of completing the expulsion of the fascist invaders from Soviet soil, liberating the countries of Europe from occupation, and ending the war with the complete defeat of the armed forces of Nazi Germany and its allies. The internal troops of the NKVD of the USSR also contributed to the solution of this problem in close cooperation with the troops of the Active Army. If in the first and second periods of the war some of these troops were directly involved in combat operations, then after 1943, due to the major successes of the Red Army in expelling the fascist invaders, the internal troops performed mainly service and combat tasks. One of these tasks was to protect the rear of the Active Army. The head of the NKVD troops for the protection of the rear of the front was subordinate to the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the USSR, and in operational terms - to the Military Council of the Front. Border units and internal troops were involved in its implementation. Each department of the NKVD troops for the protection of the rear of the front, depending on the length of the front line, had three to five regiments, which usually consisted of three rifle battalions and one motorized maneuver group as a reserve for the regimental commander. The battalion usually consisted of six outposts. In all ranks - from the battalion and above - there was a counterintelligence apparatus. The NKVD troops operated directly behind the line of the army rear, 15-25 km from the front edge. They sent out patrols, secrets, ambushes, reconnaissance and search teams, set up checkpoints, combed through woodlands, and checked settlements. By the end of 1944, a number of border units involved in protecting the rear of the Active Army began serving to protect the western border borders of the USSR, and the internal troops, in connection with the entry of Soviet troops into the ... Read more